The West Virginia
Professional Growth
Guides
What are the West Virginia Professional Growth Guides?
The Professional Growth Guides were developed to provide West Virginia educators a resource which may
be utilized to assist in advancing the professional practices of classroom teachers. The Professional Growth
Guides bring together the West Virginia Professional Teaching Standards and the West Virginia Educator
Evaluation System into a single set of documents which supplies educators with a variety of information and
resources which may be employed to improve professional practice within a given professional standard.
How can classroom teachers utilize the West Virginia Professional
Growth Guides?
Teachers who desire to improve their own professional practice within any of the West Virginia Professional
Teaching Standards may refer to the appropriate growth guides to find assistance. The growth guides provide
concrete examples of professional practices which are observed / demonstrated within the classrooms of
highly successful teachers. Specifically, the growth guides delineate some of the practices of Accomplished
and Distinguished West Virginia teachers. Additionally, teachers will find a long list of other resources
(websites, books, scholarly articles, etc.) which may be sought out and referenced for even further assistance
with improving professional practice.
How can school principals utilize the West Virginia Professional
Growth Guides?
School principals are tasked with the completion of an annual evaluation for each of the classroom teachers
in their school. The West Virginia Professional Growth Guides provide principals with concrete examples of
professional practices which are observable within the classrooms of highly successful teachers. Principals
may reference these guides prior to conducting observations in a teacher’s classroom. Principals may also
find the numerous other resources recorded within the guides useful when providing additional support to
educators who may be struggling in some aspect of their professional practice.
Stakeholders for the West Virginia Professional Growth Guides
The following professional educators contributed to the creation of the West Virginia Professional Growth
Guides:
Erin Sponaugle (2014 WV State Teacher of the Year)......................................... Berkeley County Schools
Michelle Burk (Teacher)...................................................................................... Kanawha County Schools
Kelly Haynes (Principal)..................................................................................... Kanawha County Schools
Melissa Lawrence (Principal)............................................................................. Kanawha County Schools
John Patrick (Teacher)........................................................................................ Kanawha County Schools
Tab Mathis (Principal).................................................................................................Tyler County Schools
Trent Danowski (Project Lead)...................................................... West Virginia Department of Education
Dr. Monica Beane.......................................................................... West Virginia Department of Education
Victoria Crist (Intern)...................................................................... West Virginia Department of Education
Monica DellaMea........................................................................... West Virginia Department of Education
Teresa Hammond.......................................................................... West Virginia Department of Education
Glenna Heinlein............................................................................. West Virginia Department of Education
Mindy Miesner............................................................ West Virginia Center for Professional Development
Joey Wiseman............................................................................... West Virginia Department of Education
*The format and select content found within the West Virginia Professional Growth Guides are the intellectual property of PUC Schools (Burbank, CA).
The West Virginia Department of Education uses this information with the full knowledge and consent of PUC Schools.
The West Virginia
Professional Growth
Guides
STANDARD 2: THE LEARNER AND THE LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
Element 2.3. -The teacher establishes and maintains a learnercentered culture
Description:
The teacher demonstrates knowledge of the underlying principles of how students develop and learn
and creates an environment that supports the learning of all students. The teacher sets high expectations
based on a conceptual understanding of what is developmentally appropriate for all students. The teacher
establishes a learner-centered culture that allows all students to be successful while respecting their
differences in learning styles, as well as socio-economic, cultural and developmental characteristics.
Respect for diversity is apparent in the design of the learning environment, the activities and tasks, the
materials and student groupings – to ensure student learning. Students’ misconceptions are addressed
in lesson design to ensure that appropriate next steps in learning are taken. Students are encouraged to
collaborate and to assume responsibility for their positive interaction in the learning environment.
Connection to College & Career Readiness / Next Generation Standards:
Connections to Professional Teaching Standard 2 – The Learner and the Learning Environment
• The teacher creates a learning environment which supports the students’ personal, intellectual, ethical,
and social growth.
• Integration of developmentally appropriate content is utilized to provide rigor based upon the students’
prior experiences, knowledge, and developmental levels.
• Teachers guide students in becoming self-directed learners. College and Career-ready students within
the higher programmatic levels demonstrate academic independence through their ability to seek out
and use a variety of resources to assist them in completing assigned tasks.
Professional practices within this standard-element:
At the Distinguished Level
The teacher collaborates with students to establish clear criteria for high-quality work. Such collaboration
may be achieved by the teacher guiding the students in the creation of rigorous rubrics or checklists to
be used on specific formative or summative assessments. The teacher may also provide documented
proof of frequent collaborative conferencing with individual students. Other evidence of collaboration may
include project-based learning where the students have a choice in what type of project they complete.
Whenever possible, the teacher provides examples of what he/she considers high-quality work. When
appropriate, such examples are displayed throughout the classroom. In a learner-centered culture,
students are observed in engaged self-directed learning. Students are on-task at all times and there is no
down-time between tasks. Tasks are differentiated for learning-styles and student levels. Numerous tasks
allow opportunities for students to collaborate in their learning.
The West Virginia
Professional Growth
Guides
At the Accomplished Level
The teacher establishes clear criteria for high-quality work. Students are able to articulate the criteria for
successfully demonstrating attainment of the learning objective at a high level. Whenever possible, the
teacher has provided examples of what he/she considers to be high-quality work. When appropriate,
such examples are displayed throughout the classroom. The teacher engages students in differentiated
active learning tasks. Students are on-task during instructional time and transitional activities are in place
to account for any down-time between tasks. Opportunities for students to collaborate in their learning are
present, although not at the frequency of those provided by the Distinguished level teacher.
Common Misconceptions or Difficulties:
Criteria for high-quality work is just a fancy way of saying my students know how I calculate their grades
Criteria for high-quality work is about clearly communicating expectations, but that just scratches the
surface. College-ready students know how to ask and answer the questions, “Do I really get it?” and “Did
I show that I get it?” and revise their learning processes and products in response.
If I have a rubric for everything, I’ve got criteria for high-quality work down
Handing students a rubric and telling them to figure out their grade is better than nothing. However, many
students need to see concrete examples of what the rubric describes, and benefit from using the rubric to
guide discussion about the quality of several work samples before making their own attempt. They might
use the rubric to create a plan of attack for their work, assess their first attempts, and guide their revisions.
Teachers may improve their professional practices within this standard element by having students
analyze work samples in order to name criteria or design a rubric themselves.
Professional Development Strategies:
• As an individual or group
»» Think about how you, as a learner, answer the questions, ‘Do I really get it?’ and ‘Did I show that
I get it?’ Write down some ideas about how students could use these same strategies in your
classroom.
»» Take a random sampling of student work and order the pieces from strongest to weakest.
Determine the criteria that guided your assessment, and write it down in language useful to
students. Ask a colleague to use your criteria to order the same work samples, and see if he
orders them the same way you did.
»» Design a rubric for measuring mastery of an upcoming learning objective. Create benchmark
work samples demonstrating each level of performance. Ask a colleague to use your rubric to
score the work samples you created, and see if her scores match what you intended. Use the
results to revise your rubric and samples.
»» Observe or co-plan with a peer and describe promising practices.
»» Have a peer or academic coach visit your classroom and ask your students what they have to do
to be successful on the learning objective. Have the visitor record the student responses. Analyze
the responses together to determine if the students have a clear picture or if you need to revise
your presentation of criteria for high-quality work.
The West Virginia
Professional Growth
Guides
Resources:
• Websites & Videos
»» Educational Impact (www.educationalimpact.com) – Resources include a wide range of
professional development modules/videos. Content aligned specifically to the West Virginia
Professional Teaching Standards is available. Contact your school principal or your District /
RESA central office to inquire about availability at your school.
»» Edutopia (http://www.edutopia.org/teacher-development) – A comprehensive website and online
community that increases knowledge, sharing, and adoption of what works in K-12 education.
»» EngageNY (www.engageny.org) - Resource topics include: The Common Core Standards,
Teacher/Leader Effectiveness, Data Driven Instruction, Professional Development (All Grade
Levels), and a Video Library.
»» Achieve The Core (www.achievethecore.org) – Resource topics include Common Core
instructional resources for ELA/Literacy and Mathematics, Leadership Tools relating to the
Common Core Standards.
»» TeacherTube (www.teachertube.com) – Video, audio, and document resources on a wide range
of searchable topics.
»» School Improvement Network (http://www.schoolimprovement.com)- Professional learning
resources designed to help teachers and administrators become even more effective in their
educational practices.
»» The Teaching Channel (www.teachingchannel.org) – Videos and other resources searchable by
topic
»» Teacher Vision (http://www.teachervision.com/pro-dev/resource/5778.html) – A wide range of
professional development resources for educators including articles, lesson plans, and other
resources from notable publishers and experts in the field.
»» All Things PLC (www.allthingsplc.info) – Variety of research articles, documents, tools, and other
resources.
• Readings
»» Cornelius-White, Jeffrey and Harbaugh, Adam. (2010). Learner-Centered Instruction: Building
Relationships for Student Success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
»» Himmele, Persida and William. (2011). Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an
Active Learner. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
»» Kaufeldt, Martha. (2010). Begin with the Brain: Orchestrating the Learner-Centered Classroom.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
»» Lewis, Marilyn and Reinders, Hayo. (2008). Using Student-Centered Methods with TeacherCentered Students. Ontario: Pippin Publishing Corporation
»» Marzano, Robert. (2009). Designing and Teaching Learning Goals and Objectives. Bloomington,
IN: Marzano Research Laboratory
»» McCombs, Barbara and Miller, Linda. (2007). Classroom Practices and Assessments: Maximizing
Student Motivation, Learning, and Achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
»» Weimer, Maryellen. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
The West Virginia
Professional Growth
Guides
• Planning Resources
»» Office of Early Learning, West Virginia Department of Education. Guidance Documents for PreK5th Grade levels
http://wvde.state.wv.us/oel/
»» Office of Secondary Learning, West Virginia Department of Education. Resources for Standardsbased Units, Project-based Learning, Standards-based Instruction, and 21st Century Instruction
are available.
http://wvde.state.wv.us/instruction/
»» West Virginia Center for Professional Development. Resources include, but are not limited to, the
following trainings:
• Teacher Academy-Provides research-based materials and instructional strategies to help
strengthen teaching
• Coaching/Mentoring Programs-Guides professional development of educational leaders to
improve school and classroom practices
• Advanced Placement Summer Institutes-Learning and support for teachers of Advanced
Placement Courses
• Safe and Supportive Schools-Addresses aspects of school climate and culture using
WVDE’s School Climate Survey and the WVEIS Discipline Module
• Infusing Technology-Helps educators transform the use of technological tools into powerful
devices for instruction and student engagement in order to increase critical thinking,
reasoning, and problem solving skills
• National Board Certification Support-Ongoing support for NBC candidates throughout the
process of completing the four (4) components
Please visit http://www.wvcpd.org for more information on training topics, dates, locations, and times.